Title

Author

Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

English

First Advisor

Ellen Barton

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the role of explicit RGS pedagogy in an Intermediate Composition course for aiding in students development of genre awareness in their genre-based writing. I argue that students acquire genre awareness when provided with discipline specific, genre and assignment-based instructor feedback, ongoing moments for revision, and reflective writing. From this perspective, the project demonstrates how explicit pedagogy in the form of genre-based instructor feedback, scaffolded assignments, and ongoing moments of revisions provides students with the possibility to develop disciplinary genre awareness in their writing. First, I provided a review of RGS literature in order to argue that a hybrid of both explicit and implicit pedagogy best provides students with an understanding of genre as both social and structural. Secondly, I examine my own pedagogical practices in order to determine if my own teaching practices in fact employ a hybrid RGS pedagogy. Third, I analyzed, coded, and counted my own instructor feedback in order to discover if my feedback was genre and assignment-based and focused upon disciplinary genre awareness. Fourth, I analyzed, coded, and counted students’ revisions to determine if students’ revisions responded to my feedback and demonstrated growing disciplinary genre awareness. Fifth, I utilized an independent evaluator in order to find if students’ revisions were viewed as positive or negative. Sixth, I analyzed, coded, and counted students’ end-of-the-semester reflective writing in order to ascertain if students’ showcased genre awareness in their reflective writing. My studies validated my hybrid pedagogical practices and suggested that explicit, genre-based, disciplinary RGS pedagogy leads to students development of genre awareness in their writing.